Report: Mental Health Resources Inadequate Across the Globe
U.S. News; Kimberly Leonard, 7/14/2015
Reports in recent months have pointed out a lack of services and insufficient insurance provisions for Americans who have a mental illness, but a new survey shows that globally people are much worse off.
Across the world, nearly 1 in 10 people have a mental health disorder, yet nearly half of the world lives in a country where there is less than one psychiatrist per 100,000 people. The worldwide median for mental health workers is 9 per 100,000 people.
Mental health workforce per 100,000 population, by WHO region
Despite the need for services, only 1 percent of the global health workforce is working in mental health, and the reported number of psychiatrists has declined 6 percent since 2011 – the last time the survey was published.
The report, the Mental Health Atlas, was published Tuesday by the World Health Organization and is the fourth installment since its introduction in 2001. To assemble results, WHO sent a questionnaire to its 194 member countries, 171 of which participated. The survey, conducted in 2014, asked about the prevalence of mental health care workers, the amount spent on mental health and the availability of governments prevention programs, among other measures.
Unsurprisingly, the report found wealthier countries have a higher number of mental hospital beds and admission rates than low-income countries, which have nearly 42 beds and 142 admissions per 100,000 population.
Part of this is because of financial investment in services, which is more difficult for countries that have fewer resources. The report found that low- and middle-income countries – like North Korea, Eritrea, Haiti and Morocco – spend less than $2 per person, per year on mental health. High-income countries – like the U.S., Spain, Singapore and Qatar – spend $58.73 per person annually. The majority of spending, regardless of country wealth, goes to mental hospitals.
Median mental health expenditure per capita, by World Bank income group
Association between mental health expenditure per capita and gross national income (N = 41)
Other than financial investment, laws and programs to raise awareness about mental illness can help people access the medical care they need. Still, less than half (41 percent) of countries WHO surveyed have at least two functioning mental health promotion and prevention programs. Of these, more than half were aimed at improving mental health literacy or combating stigma.
Existence and revision of mental health laws
WHO organized the results according to its six regions: Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific.
Part of the purpose of the report is to track improvements in care. In 2013, WHO launched its “Mental Health Action Plan,” a set of goals it would aim to reach by 2020 to improve mental health care. The plan would encourage countries to report mental health indicators every two years, would increase the number of prevention programs and would broaden coverage across the world for mental disorders.
A portion of the plan makes suicide prevention a priority, aiming to reduce its incidence 10 percent by 2020. In 2012, suicide accounted for 804,000 deaths worldwide. According to the report, suicide rates are higher in high-income countries than in low-income countries – despite government investment and programs aimed at prevention.